Hayao Miyazaki

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Akema Ota

Long acknowledged as Japan's preeminent animator and director, Hayao Miyazaki remained a cult figure to American devotees of "manga" (Japanese comic books) and "anime" (Japanese animated features) until the 1999 US release one of his undisputed masterworks, "Princess Mononoke" (1997). Acquired by Miramax and redubbed into English using a script by Neil Gaiman and the vocal talents of actors such as Claire Danes and Billy Crudup, "Princess Mononoke" introduced the richly crafted animation and superb storytelling to mainstream audiences. The film was deemed too violent for young children used to Disney cartoons filled with cheery anthropomorphic sidekicks and sing-along musical scores but their older siblings and parents could marvel at the detailed set pieces and enjoy the three-dimensional characters, who were neither true-blue heroes nor all-black villains. Miyazaki's anime classic explored big themes like man versus nature and good versus evil, but they were couched in mythology and highly memorable visuals. His subsequent film, 2001's boldly imaginative "Spirited Away," received even more acclaim and went on to win a 2003 Academy Award, solidifying Miyazaki's already-revered status in international cinema.Born in Tokyo in January 1941, Hayao Miyazaki spent his formative years in the capital city. His father's family owned an airplane parts factory and that small matter had a great impact on the future filmmaker in developing his particularly unique animation style. A Miyazaki feature often contains aerial shots that swoop and soar, contrasting with segments of quietude and intimacy that serve to heighten the fantastical elements of his tales. During his childhood, his mother was confined to bed with spinal tuberculosis and Miyazaki later paid her homage in "My Neighbor Totoro" (1988), which focused on two sisters whose mother has been hospitalized.From his earliest childhood, Miyazaki was fascinated by drawing, particularly models of airplanes, but when it came to sketching people, he was less than successful. Rather than pursue his hobby, he enrolled as a political science and economics major at Gakushuin University. But his desire to draw finally won out and following his matriculation, Miyazaki landed work at Toei Animation, where he served an apprenticeship before being assigned to work as an in-betweener on the 1963 feature "Watchdog Bow Wow" and the TV series "Wolf Boy Ken" (1963-65). The latter marked his first collaboration with Isao Takahata with whom he would later collaborate before forming Studio Ghibli together in 1985. The pair worked as animator (Miyazaki) and director (Takahata) on varied projects, including the TV series "Hustle Punch" (1965-66).In the '70s, Miyazaki left Toei and joined Takahata at A-Pro and then moved to Zuiyo Pictures, all the while dividing his attentions between features and TV. As the decade waned, he moved into the director's chair for 16 episodes of the series "Future Boy Conan" (1978), also assisting in character design and development. In 1979, Miyazaki made his feature debut with the adventure movie "Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro," and later worked on an adaptation of the comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland, leaving the project during pre-production in 1982. That year, he created his initial manga entry Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, which became the basis for his second film."Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind" (1984) contains the archetypes of all of the animator's future work: a smart heroine, swooping sequences that recreate the experience of flying, ecological themes, and dilemma and characters that aren't all villainous or all heroic. This film's story, set in a post-apocalyptic future, concerns a princess attempting to protect her subjects from two larger warring powers, in the process aiding in diffusing a potential ecological disaster. A critical and commercial success in Japan, "Nausicaä" gave Miyazaki the resources to co-found his own animation company, S